SUNSEEKERS returning to Birmingham from a dream Caribbean holiday suffered a horrendous delay of more than 27 hours because of a technical fault with another plane two days earlier.

The Thomson Airways flight TOM 771 from Bridgetown, Barbados, should have touched down at Birmingham Airport on Monday at 5.30am.

But it was delayed more than a day and did not arrive back in the UK until 9am yesterday.

More than 250 passengers were forced to spend an extra night in the holiday resort, and a similar number remained in hotels in Birmingham, while the Boeing 767 aircraft was repaired on the tarmac in Barbados.

A spokeswoman for Thomson Airways said the delay was caused by a mechanical problem on the previous TOM 025 flight from Barbados to London Gatwick.

The Thomson spokeswoman added: “TOM 025 departed Bridgetown on Friday at 5:35pm local time as scheduled. During the initial stages of the flight, however, a technical fault was discovered and the pilot took the decision to turn back to Bridgetown so that the problem could be rectified. All customers in Bridgetown and Birmingham were given welfare and overnight accommodation at local hotels.”